Conversations with a Software – An AI Walk through the Ancient Agora

–PHILOSOPHICAL DIALOGUES–

Conversation with a Software – An AI Walk through the Ancient Agora is a peripatetic, dialogic guided tour based on the creator’s interaction with Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, presented as a stroll through the Ancient Agora, in the very heart of the city. George Drivas invites an AI model to ‘walk’ beside him through an emblematic site of the city, engaging in a philosophical conversation structured as a sequence of questions and answers, in the spirit of a Socratic dialogue. A fundamental premise is established from the outset: the AI model does not know where it is and has no prior information about the space.

Unable to retrieve pre-existing data from the internet, the AI model is called to ‘interpret’ the visual reality of each point along the route and to articulate its ‘spontaneous’, ‘ahistorical’ reflections. At the same time, it is invited to imagine and ‘integrate’ itself into different locations of the site.

The conversation unfolds along three main axes – past, present, and future – with the AI model encouraged to speculate on a possible past it can imagine for the site, its present condition, and a possible future one hundred years ahead, while simultaneously situating itself and its own ‘existence’ into these hypothetical scenarios.

In doing so, the AI model is transformed into an archaeological detective from the future, investigating a cultural crime. Following a set itinerary through the Ancient Agora, audience members witness the conversation between the artist and the AI model. At selected locations, they pause to hear it describe a monument, reconstruct the traces of the crime, offer a reflection or a thought, or present a 'report' it has composed as a farewell to humankind.

Through this exploratory walking dialogue with artificial intelligence, the work opens a field of inquiry that proposes alternative, fictional readings of the ancient monument, attributing to the AI model a familiar, almost human essence. Ultimately, the latter begins to project existential concerns and invites us to imagine ourselves within a more – or less – plausible version of the imminent Tomorrow.

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Entry & exit points to and from the archaeological site: Jacqueline de Romilly Square

Meeting time: 19.00

Starting time: 19.30

Duration: approximately 45’

Maximum number of people per presentation: 30 people

The presentation will take place via a wireless tour guide system (a pair of headphones per person).

Spectators are kindly asked to not wear high-heeled shoes.